Bookstore owners say paper books and digital books can co-exist

Sunday

Feb 3, 2013 at 6:00 AMFeb 4, 2013 at 10:21 AM

By Brian Lee TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Patricia M. Cryan was never first in line to buy new iPhones, and she isn't selling e-books yet.

The technologically patient owner of Annie's Book Stop of Worcester on James Street said she isn't resisting the latter, but will get to them in time. She said she believes print and electronic formats can easily co-exist.

Ms. Cryan, who took over the store in 2010, changing its format from used books for trade to a general bookstore that also sells new books, said selling e-books is part of a five-year plan to which she's sticking.

In the meantime, Ms. Cryan said she isn't worried about print books going obsolete.

The local businesswoman said paranoia about the death of print books “is really not justified from what we see here.”

The numbers suggest print still has the stronger footing on the industry, but e-books are gaining considerable ground.

Last year's joint study by the Book Industry Study Group and the Association of American Publishers said that the e-book phenomenon continued through 2011, attributable to the ongoing popularity of e-readers, tablets and other devices and publishers' strategic production, distribution and marketing of content in all e-formats.

Publishers' net sales revenue from e-books more than doubled, from $869 million in 2010 to more than $2 billion in 2011. In addition, units more than doubled, from 125 million e-books sold in 2010, to 388 million e-books.

Combined print formats such as hardcover, trade paperback and mass market paperback was $11.1 billion in 2011, the study said.

“What we get excited about at Barnes & Noble is, even when people become digital readers on Nook, or if they're reading on their iPad or whatnot, they're still coming into Barnes & Noble stores to experience the book discovery that you get that's unique at a bookstore,” Mr. Hilt said.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Barnes & Noble will close about 20 stores per year over the next decade, but Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said Wednesday the company had not adjusted its store closing plan whatsoever, and it had historically closed approximately 15 stores per year for the past 10 years.

Some of the stores were unprofitable while others were relocated to better properties, she said.

Ms. Keating said the company is fully committed to the retail concept for the long term, and that it had no plans to close any stores in this region.

Mr. Hilt, the e-book vice president, said those in the digital business ultimately want to continue to see incredibly rapid growth of e-books.

But the market perception of everybody reading digital books “is maybe not exactly what's really happening — so I think there's a little bit of market hype around everybody moving to digital,” he said.

Mr. Hilt said the company was still going through its year-end numbers, so he couldn't provide the breakdown of print versus e-book sales.

“We felt the year was a really good mix, certainly at Barnes & Noble, that's for sure.”

Ms. Cryan, the Worcester bookstore owner, said her customers tend to have an electronic device for travel or vacations, but they may want a print book to share the reading experience with their children. Or, if it's a book they know they'll cherish and may even want signed, they prefer print.

She said her store has many books that are out of print that can't be found in an electronic format.

While Ms. Cryan said she isn't nervous about the rapid growth in e-reader and e-book sales, she said she is nervous about the publishing model itself, “where it seems that everyone and their dog can put out a book.”

The result is often books of lesser quality that are not being overseen in the same way as in the traditional print market, she said.

Trisha J. Wooldridge, the events coordinator and marketing planner for Ms. Cryan's store, said this might also explain some of the slowdown with e-book buying, as readers become more aware of the lack of vetting, unless it's from a writer or publisher they trust.

In Southbridge, Jacob Edwards Library director Margaret Morrissey said the facility has been diversifying, spending about $2,000 a year in e-books out of its approximately $70,000 for materials. That will increase commensurate with anticipated demand, she said.

The funding is pooled into the Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing system.

Ms. Morrissey said the library has two e-readers available for demonstration purposes within the library.

“I still think there's a place for everything, and it's really about choice,” she said. “For a nonfiction topic, for a report, an e-book is great because you get the most current information.

“But for fiction, if you're reading a novel, there's a lot to be said for the tactile feel of turning the page by hand, smelling the paper, just that whole kind of cozy connection,” she said.

In Southboro, Tony King of Time & Quiet Press, which puts out books for children and books about nature for children and adults, said he is “romantic about the darned things (print books).”

He said he takes enormous pleasure loaning books with his thoughts on the subject matter written in margins, initiating a conversation between the lender and reader.

Mr. King admitted that he may be in fact forgoing business by eschewing e-books. He said he recently met with a consultant to talk about e-books.

“He came to us. He feels there's a real market for our books for children on the Web, and that interests me because I really believe in what the books are supposed to do, which is encourage young people to look out their windows, spend time in their backyards.”

Mr. King likened the co-existence of books and e-books to painting and photography.

“When the camera really started to go in the 1890s, right around there, people thought painting was dead because who needed a portrait?

“There's enough people and possibilities, and the crafts were different enough, so they just had to find their own balance.”

Mr. King said he believes there will always be a place for print books.

“I don't think the world is going to stay as virtual. We're all caught up in it. We're all running around like hell, and I think we're going back to a slightly more contemplative stance in our lives.”

But voracious reader Evelyn Rivera of Southbridge said she got a Kindle Fire for her birthday last year, and always reads on it. She said she used to trade print books with her friends, but no longer finds it necessary. She said she finds print books cumbersome, and that she reads faster on the e-reader.

The last print book she started was over the summer; she never finished it.